Chapter 1535 1534. The Suns' Response
On January 29, the day of the game between the Eagles and the Suns, Liu Mang got up and took a shower and replenished his regular medicine.
A rogue is worth 17,213,369 points and a superstar is worth 437,985 points.
After replenishing the standing potions, Liu Mang still had 400,000 superstar points left.
Usually when playing against weak teams, Liu Mang would draw star cards to experience the playing styles of various stars, improve his comprehensive skills, and look for any useful tips, which would consume a lot of money.
Now Liu Mang has to start saving up some superstar value. If he really gets the fourth MVP of his career this season and three consecutive MVPs, his superstar value will definitely be a lot. Last year's two consecutive MVPs increased his star value a lot.
If you can break one million, you can draw another attribute fruit.
Liu Mang has hard work, but the slight gap in talent, even if he has made up for it with so many superstars over the years, is still a little behind the top.
Of course Liu Mang wants to get better.
Fortunately, Liu Mang still has room for improvement, and there is no complete bottleneck period. For example, practicing triple threat play when playing against weak teams, etc. are areas where he can improve, so Liu Mang is not so urgent.
First, practice what you have learned to the best to avoid biting off more than you can chew. Instead of learning all the skills, Liu Mang currently prefers to draw star cards of some unique role players to learn some small skills.
For example, Raja Bell's defensive skills to avoid the referee's small movements, Doc Rivers' cutting skills when stealing, etc. These small skills do not take too long to train, and they only need to be slowed down during the game. Just slowly develop defensive habits.
Of course, it would be even better to be able to draw the star cards of the superstars and even era-level superstars that Liu Mang wants. Liu Mang is getting better and better at blocking shots at the basket. In addition to the "Giant Killer" feature, he has experienced various games many times. The big inside star cards, including O'Neal, Ben Wallace and other shot-blocking stars, played a big role.
Relatively speaking, the awareness of inside shot-blocking and judgment of when offensive players will take action are much better than those of outside defenders.
It is Liu Mang's mentality that allows him to continue to improve and refine various techniques.
After washing up, Liu Mang wanted to go to Little Loli's bedroom to wake her up for breakfast, but found that Little Loli had already gotten up.
"Dina, why did you get up so early today?"
"The All-Star starting lineup will be announced this morning. Uncle, hurry up and have breakfast!" Little Loli quickly pushed Liu Mang back to the room and asked Liu Mang to change clothes.
Liu Mang then remembered that today is the day when the All-Star starting lineup is announced.
The second phase of voting ended on January 17th, and the votes for the second phase were announced on the 18th. There were no major changes in other positions. Only West forward Anthony was overtaken by Josh Smith.
Liu Mang and Little Loli went to have breakfast together. It was past eight o'clock after breakfast. They met some teammates while eating breakfast. They returned to Liu Mang's suite together and watched the TV. They waited until 9 o'clock and watched the official NBA announcement together. The final results of the All-Star voting.
There are no changes in the Eastern Conference. It is too stable. Dwight Howard won the Eastern Conference vote king with 2.79 million votes.
Kwame Brown, who came in second, only had 1.13 million votes, which was a huge gap.
For forwards, LeBron James ranked first with 2.33 million votes, and Garnett ranked second with 1.96 million votes.
Rahim, who came in third place with 1.35 million votes, is far behind the top two.
In terms of defenders, Liu Mang ranked first with 2.55 million votes, and Tracy McGrady ranked second with 2.33 million votes.
Wade saw that he was ranked third among the guards with 1.49 million votes. Although he had been mentally prepared for it, when he saw the final number of votes, he still felt a little bit envious.
In the Western Conference, the only one to exceed 3 million votes this year is Yao Ming at the Western Conference center position, with 3.06 million votes.
In terms of forwards, Duncan was unbeatable as an All-Star starter with 2.19 million votes. However, at the other forward position, the one who finally counterattacked was Carlos Boozer with 1.69 million votes!
Boozer was selected into the All-Star starting lineup for the first time with 1.69 million votes, beating out Josh Smith with 1.61 million votes and Carmelo Anthony with 1.55 million votes.
The Jazz have a good record, and Boozer is Liu Mang's former teammate. He was unexpectedly selected as an All-Star starter.
Guard... Kobe was selected as the All-Star starter with 2.44 million votes and Iverson with 2.25 million votes.
The combined votes of Nash, Paul, and Iguodala can surpass Iverson, but if the three of them have about the same number of votes, that won't work.
Seeing that his 1.13 million votes were so far behind the first-placed Howard, Kwame Brown felt that the All-Star starting lineup was far away from him.
In fact, if it weren't for the help of 60E Lakers fans to fight against O'Neal, even if Kwame Brown was Liu Mang's teammate, it would be difficult for him to have a chance to be selected as an All-Star starter.
After O'Neal left the Eastern Conference, Kwame Brown's All-Star start came to an end.
But being selected as two All-Star starters, Kwame Brown is already very satisfied. It's just that what he got before is now lost, which is always a bit regretful.
Liu Mang and Tracy McGrady, on the other hand, coincidentally became All-Star starters starting from the 2002-03 season. Regardless of whether they were on the same team or not, the two have been partnering in the Eastern Conference since becoming All-Star starters.
There were no surprises. The teammates dispersed and went back to their rooms to rest for a while. At 10 o'clock, they gathered in the hotel's conference room for a pre-match meeting.
…
Hawks vs. Suns, this game has received widespread attention.
The Suns are now in a strong momentum, ranking second in the West, and are currently on a four-game winning streak. They have just defeated the Lakers and Spurs. Can they continue to work hard to end the Hawks' winning streak?
Or will the Hawks continue to maintain their unstoppable state, winning all the way, catching up with or even surpassing the Spurs before the All-Star Weekend?
Everything depends on this game tonight.
After the Hawks beat the Suns, the difficult mid-season schedule is over. The next opponents are the Clippers on the 31st. The first five games of next month are the Nets, Wizards, Pistons, Bobcats, and Warriors. It is not until the last two games before the All-Star Weekend that they will play against the Rockets and Cavaliers, two powerful teams. The last two games are obviously used to warm up for the All-Star Weekend, just like the Nuggets and Lakers in the West will also play once before the All-Star Weekend.
If the Suns can't stop the Hawks from winning, the next six opponents of the Hawks will basically be unable to stop the Hawks, and the Hawks will play at home in the next six games, except for the Clippers and Warriors.
Judging from the public opinion on the Internet, most fans support the Suns more.
Who called the Hawks... Mainly because a certain No. 24 player is too hateful.
In the afternoon, Liu Mang brought the little girl and followed the team to the American West Arena to conduct pre-match tactical drills and prepare for the game.
After training, they rested for a while. At four o'clock, Liu Mang gave the front-row tickets he got from the Suns to Harden, who had been squatting in the parking lot for two hours, and then returned to the training ground to warm up.
At almost six o'clock, the players of the two teams entered the court...
...
Listening to the thunderous cheers of the fans at the scene for the home team Suns players, Liu Mang is a little puzzled now.
"What's wrong with this guy's head? Isn't he afraid of being beaten to death?"
Thinking of Artest's iron elbow, Liu Mang felt that this guy was probably really not afraid of being beaten.
Sitting in front of the technical desk was the most popular college player in Phoenix at the time. However, this popular local player in Phoenix was wearing a blue and white base with a red trimmed No. 24 Hawks jersey...
It was too eye-catching!
Liu Mang didn't expect that Harden was wearing his jersey under his down jacket.
The popular college player in Phoenix cheered for the visiting star, and even under such a high level of attention...
Unsurprisingly, the camera repeatedly gave Harden...
Even the little girl behind the Hawks bench felt that this college student had good basketball talent and strong strength, but his brain was not working well.
Liu Mang could only hope that the future JDZ king would not be beaten.
Seeing Kwame Brown bickering with Josh Smith, and Nash's special expressions when chatting with veterans such as McGrady, O'Neal, and Grant Hill, Liu Mang felt the Suns' desire to win.
Both teams were very motivated!
At 5:58, Liu Mang came to the sidelines, wiped the magnesium powder, sprinkled it into the air, and went on the court with his starting teammates.
The game was about to start.
The starting players of both teams were very focused after they came on the court!
On the Suns side, Nash, Raja Bell, Jason Richardson, Josh Smith, and O'Neal's starting lineup appeared.
On the Hawks side, Rondo, Liu Mang, McGrady, Marion, and Kwame Brown's starting lineup also returned.
To play against a strong team like the Suns, of course all the main players must be on the field.
In this way, Scola and Finley can only be wronged in suits, because Gasol Jr. got a chance to play today.
After the game started, Kwame Brown helped the Hawks win the jump ball, and the Hawks attacked first.
Liu Mang came to the high position with his back against Raja Bell, feeling Raja Bell's little movements, Liu Mang couldn't help but ask Rondo for the ball.
After Rondo passed the ball to Liu Mang, he cut into the inside and brought Nash in.
Rondo went inside at this point, and Nash had to follow him. Rondo's low-post footsteps, super long wingspan, big hands, etc., combined with his long arms, big hands, etc., although he is a little short, he is too powerful in singles under the basket.
After all, it is the only offensive strength. Rondo has continued to improve his footsteps under the basket through more than a year of hard training. Even Liu Mang and McGrady's footsteps under the basket are not Rondo's opponents.
When Rondo ran one step into the free throw line, McGrady cut in from the right side at a 45-degree angle, and the two met. Rondo went up to help McGrady block Jason Richardson who was chasing him. McGrady ran to the left sideline. Nash quickly switched defense. Josh Smith, who was defending Marion in the left corner, also came up one step to prepare for double-teaming.
Just as McGrady passed by Liu Mang and Raja Bell from a high position on the left, Liu Mang turned right and broke through the baseline!
Josh Smith quickly blocked him. Liu Mang turned and jumped in the double-team of Raja Bell and Josh Smith, facing Marion in the bottom corner!
"Ding... Level 5 of the Aerial Magician is triggered..."
Although Nash's defensive ability is not good, he is really active. He went to the bottom corner to defend Marion, but Liu Mang passed the ball to McGrady instead of Marion after he jumped up!
McGrady received the pass from Liu Mang and shot a three-pointer from the left sideline...
The first shot went in!
Only McGrady, Marion was ready to receive the ball and cut in, and Liu Mang was also staring at Marion. No one else expected that Liu Mang's hand shook and the target of the pass was McGrady.
Seeing that McGrady was still in such a good state, Nash took a deep breath and went to the baseline to wait for the serve.
Too arrogant!
The Hawks are in such an unreasonable state now.
Nash received the serve and pushed forward, and the Suns attacked.
Kwame Brown was ready to try to defend O'Neal. If he couldn't, he would ask his brother who was already warming up on the bench to come up and fight the fat with the fat.
The Suns didn't focus on O'Neal at the beginning!
They played the pick-and-roll between Josh Smith and Nash!
When Nash and Josh Smith's pick-and-roll attracted the attention of Hawks defenders Liu Mang, Marion and Rondo to the top line, Jason Richardson ran around the three-second zone, O'Neal blocked McGrady, Nash passed the ball to Jason Richardson, and the dunk king received the ball and turned over to make a mid-range jump shot!
Coach Kruger asked Gasol to be ready to play at any time, but he ended up playing on the outside.
Pick-and-roll is the core tactic of the Suns in addition to running and counterattacks. At the beginning of the game today, the Suns insisted on playing mainly on the outside, and O'Neal stayed under the basket to contain and screen and roll for teammates around the basket!
The Hawks' unlimited rotation system based on the inside line is based on the fact that most of the strong teams now have strong inside players or at least strong frontcourt players. In addition to being difficult to deal with Milicic, when a team like the Suns with a group of excellent outside players insists on attacking from the outside, the unlimited rotation system of the inside line is not so easy to use.
However, playing from the outside... this is the Hawks' absolute strength!
After the Hawks' inside line played amazing performances against the Lakers, Spurs and other teams, they received a lot of attention, but their outside line is the real fatal place, just like the time when they won the Lakers, Liu Mang, Jason Terry and McGrady took off and scored more than 90 points together.
The Suns played from the outside for more than four minutes and really couldn't hold on, so they changed players!
However, instead of changing to the inside line to run and gun, Nash was replaced with Calderon!
The Card-Shark combination appeared!